Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Hell Night

Last night, I attended the legendary Hell Night at the East Coast Grill in Inman Square. Basically, fans of spicy food are treated/tortured to some of the hottest cuisines imaginable. It's hard to get a reservation, but my roommate Ern somehow snagged us a table for six. The picture on the left is of us in happier times, at the bar, before the peppery products entered our systems. We started off with a flaming drink (see blurry picture) and spicy ribs, taquitos, and buffalo shrimp for appetizers. The taquitos certainly had a little kick to them, but OH MY GOD THE SHRIMP. They burned! For an entree, I ordered the Jamaican grilled skirt steak. It was hot, damn hot. I tried my best to scrape off the peppery sauces, to no avail. I sought comfort in the side items of fried yuca and jicama salad, but alas, they were tossed in the devil's own seasoning. The only thing that saved my stomach lining were the sides of cornbread (the waiter offered jalapeno cornbread, but we wisely chose the plain) and fried plantains. No one dared to test the hottest item on the menu, the Hell Pasta. I had been considering it until I read a review on the Hot Sauce Blog that describes people vomiting on the table after eating it. Um, I think I'll pass. The others suffered through their main courses as well, and naturally, I was all "You look like you're going to barf! Quick, let me take a picture for my blog." I don't look so bad in mine, until you realize that my face is the same color as my fuchsia sweater, and my lips are not normally that, um, plump. Capsaicin...even better than collagen injections!

The first casualty of the evening was Pat, who had the salmon, which we all confirmed was the hottest item at our table. I thought I had recovered, until, at 4:30AM, something terrible happened in my lower intestines. That's all I'm going to say about that. Overall, it was a fun night and a definite culinary adventure, but I would not recommend it for the faint of taste bud. I love spicy food, but this was almost too much for me. (Almost? Who am I kidding? I almost needed to buy a pair of these.)